My Love Immortal
by BecomingScarlett
Summary: Elena Gilbert thought she had her whole life figured out, until she met Damon Salvatore. He was her new Chem lab partner, and not at all like the other boys at Mystic Falls High. He didn't care what anyone thought of him. Elena envied that. Damon is hiding something though. When she learns of his secret, she'll do anything she can to help him. M for language. 8-PART SHORT STORY.
1. One

_Hello Readers:) This story is an idea I got after watching the movie Keith. I started writing it as a one-shot, but when I finished, it was almost _20 _pages long, so I kept going back and forth with what to do. Anyway, right after I decided and posted it as a one-shot, I got another idea, so I quickly deleted it. (Note: I'm not usually this indecisive.) It's all finished now, but it ended up being even longer, so I'm going to post it in 8 shorter parts. I hope you guys enjoy it! Please let me know what you think:) _

_NOTE: Stefan isn't Damon's brother in this story, but he will appear in the story at some point as Stefan Moretti, Caroline's Italian foreign exchange student.  
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_DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)  
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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**1.**

The first time I ever laid eyes on a vampire, I couldn't believe it. _It's not possible_, I told myself, but it was. It _is _possible. Vampires _do _exist, and Damon was right all along.

The first time a vampire laid eyes on _me_, I knew it was too late. Too late to make good on my promise. Too late to save the boy I love. Too late to save myself.

He didn't look like any vampire I'd ever imagined; Klaus Mikaelson. I thought he'd be a little more Dracula-esque, but he was actually a rather dashing young British man with baby blue eyes and blonde hair. Despite his innocent outward appearance, there was evil behind those eyes. I watched them turn red, saw the black veins snake across his face before he sunk his fangs into my neck and started to feed.

It didn't hurt, but it should have. All I felt was relief. It was strange…I'd always been scared of death, but then, as it stared me straight in the face all I felt was calm. _This is as it should be, _I thought, _Everything dies._

But then I remembered; _he doesn't_. I knew what I had to do. Soon, I knew, I'd be dead, but there was something I had to do first…

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_**6 Months Ago**_

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I met Damon Salvatore half-way through Senior Year of high school. It was very unusual to see a new student so far into the school year, especially the last year of high school, but no one cared to know why he'd switched schools. The kids all thought he was weird, and since he didn't give a damn what they thought of him, they thought he was even weirder. I myself was one of those people. Unfortunately, as Damon's _lab partner _in AP Chemistry, we were required to spend time with one another. _I couldn't escape him._

"Hey there, Partner," Damon had said when he first walked into Mr. Saltzman's classroom and slid into the empty seat next to me at the lab table.

I took my eyes off my Chemistry notebook and raised an eyebrow at him questionably. "What?"

Damon, with his ice blue eyes and raven hair, had stuck out his hand and repeated, "I said, 'Hey there, Partner'." I reluctantly returned his hand shake, and he smiled as he offered up his name, "Damon Salvatore."

"Elena Gilbert," I'd returned.

"Ha, so you don't remember then," Damon said with a smirk.

"Remember…?" I prompted while shaking my head back and forth.

"Well, I stood behind you in the sixth grade play," Damon pointed out, "You were the princess, and I was Russian soldier number three."

I remembered the play, but…not him. I told him the truth, "Don't remember that."

"Of course not," Damon stated sarcastically, "A Princess never remembers the little people."

I rolled my eyes at his comment and returned to my notes. "Oh, excuse me while I cry for you."

That was my very first impression of Damon; sarcastic, rude and pushy. After Chemistry lab that first day, I had tried to talk Mr. Saltzman into assigning us different partners, but he'd refused. He agreed that Damon and I lacked…well, _chemistry_, but he thought we were capable of working through that. On my way out the door, I had overheard Damon complaining about being assigned to _me! _"About this Elena Gilbert thing," Damon had said, talking to Mr. Saltzman like they were old friends, "Alaric, she's a complete anal-compulsive control freak. How do you expect me to work with that?" I couldn't believe it. How could _**I **_be the harder one to work with? He's the one who didn't even read the directions or labels before mixing together possibly combustible materials. He was going to kill us before the end of the year, but apparently, Mr. Saltzman had faith things would work out for the better.

A week later, Damon and I had our first lab report to write up. I'd suggested we split up the work so we could do it ourselves, but Damon pretty much admitted he wouldn't do his part unless we wrote the lab report together. I complained, but eventually agreed to meet after school. I thought we'd meet in the library and get started there, but Damon, who _never _does the first thing you expect him to, had other plans.

I somehow found myself in the passenger seat of his '69 Chevy Camaro, heading into town. "Where are we going?" I'd asked him.

"Oh, nowhere in particular," Damon replied before returning his eyes to the road. He talked about our lab report topic while I wrote down his points on paper. He probably drove in a circle on the same suburban block three times before I asked him what the Hell he thought he was doing. "Sheesh, what's your rush? We're here, in a beat up old Chevy, got a road ahead of us and absolutely nothing but opportunities…"

"Uh, no," I told him with a shake of my head, "We don't. I have fifteen minutes until I need to be back at school for cheerleading practice. I told you that before, Damon. And after practice, I have a meeting with the Yearbook Committee. Then, I have to go home and do all the homework for my other classes. I don't just have all day to drive around with you."

"All right, all right," Damon groaned, "Calm down, Partner. We've got plenty of time. I'll drop you back off at school." After we arrived at the school and I hopped out of his car, he'd unrolled the window and called out, "So I'll pick you up at midnight then?"

I whipped back around and leaned into the window, hissing, "What are you talking about? Why would I do that?" I'd hoped no one heard him say that because then they might have thought I was actually friends with him…

"So we can finish our report," Damon answered in an obvious tone, like I was idiot for not agreeing with his brilliant plan.

"Uh, yeah, I don't think so…"

"Well, I'll be outside to pick you up at midnight," Damon had said, "If you're not there, then I guess we'll get an F on this report. That's cool with me." He drove away before I could argue.

That night when midnight rolled around, I was still in my bed debating whether or not Damon was serious about meeting up when I heard his Chevy Camaro roaring up the road. How he even knew where I lived, I had no idea. I think at the time I'd convinced myself that I only got dressed and ran out there to keep my parents from waking up, but in reality, I was curious about Damon Salvatore. He wasn't like other boys in Mystic Falls. He didn't care what people thought about him, or what the cool thing to do was. He was simply himself. I kind of envied him for that.

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_Reviews are welcome and appreciated:)_


	2. Two

_DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**2.**

By the time Spring rolled around, my lab partner and I had become sort-of friends. I say that because, while we had established midnight drives and random outings as our _thing_, we still never spoke in school or around my friends. We never referred to each other as friends to anyone else. It was like, Damon knew I was keeping him a secret, but he didn't care. Or maybe, he was keeping me as a secret too? Whatever it was, it doesn't matter now.

"So, Partner," I greeted Damon with the nick-name he dubbed me with first day of class in January, "What's the plan for tonight?"

"I don't do plans," Damon reminded me. "But…I think tonight, we'll go vampire hunting."

This wasn't the first time Damon had talked about vampires, but it was the first time he'd suggested we try and find one. I'd laughed and assumed he was making a joke. I didn't know he was serious. I didn't know he actually believed vampires existed. _I didn't know they really do._

"Oh yeah?" I'd asked sarcastically, "How are _we_ going to find a vampire in Mystic Falls?"

"Didn't you know?" Damon asked incredulously before explaining, "Vampires share a long history with Mystic Falls. Something about this town just…attracts them. I told you that's the main reason why my family moved back here."

"Well then why haven't I ever seen one?" I'd queried with a roll of my eyes. I didn't believe his family actually moved here for vampires. That was just Damon; he was never serious. Life was all a game to him.

"I guess you weren't looking in the right place."

Damon pulled over at the only twenty-four hour grocery store in town and told me to wait in the car. When he came out, he had two big bags full of garlic. I mean, it was a lot of garlic. We could have probably made garlic bread for the whole town with the amount he purchased. He tossed the bags in the backseat and started up the engine.

"What are we doing with all this garlic?" I'd demanded, looking through the bags to see if he'd at least grabbed us a snack. He hadn't.

"You'll see…" Damon loved secrets.

When we arrived at our destination, I was confused as to why we were parking outside of the local bar. We were clearly underage and not getting inside...Damon's blue eyes were twinkling with mischief, though, so I knew we were probably going to get in trouble. For some reason, I always listened to Damon's dumb ideas. I let myself be spontaneous with Damon. I don't know why. His _I-don't-give-a-fuck _attitude rubbed off on me after spending so many hours in Chemistry with him. When I was with him, I was just Elena; instead of the pretty and popular, neat and controlled, spread-too-thin girl I was at school. It was really nice to have a break from her.

Damon handed me one grocery bag of garlic, while he kept the other, and he explained to me his 'awesome idea'. I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. "Are you sure we're not going to get in trouble for this?" He wasn't suggesting we break into the cars or vandalize them or anything, so...I didn't think we'd really get in too much trouble. But I had to ask.

"We're not going to get caught, _duh!_" Damon said in a hushed tone as he hopped out of the car with his bag o' garlic balls, and I followed. "You do those ones. I'll do these ones." Damon divided the parking lot in half and then continued to gesture some crazy military-looking hand signals at me.

I stared at him, puzzled, before announcing, "I have no idea what you're doing. What is that? Army code? What do I look like?"

Damon ran over and covered my mouth with his hand, while he shushed me simultaneously. He asked, "You look like you're trying to get us caught. Just be quiet and do it quickly. Okay, Partner?"

I rolled my eyes at him since I couldn't answer with his hand muffling my mouth, and nodded my head. He removed his hand and I commented, "Never do that again. Let's go do this."

Damon and I started at opposite ends of the small parking lot in front of the equally small Mystic Bar, putting a row of garlic on the hood of each car as we went, and met in the middle. Damon randomly distributed the remaining garlic; he even put a whole line in front of the doorway, which had me cracking up. Then, a big man with a moustache decided to come outside for a smoke and asked us what the fuck we were doing. We, of course, ran to the car and drove off. I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks.

After Damon pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store, I remembered the purpose of the garlic. I asked, "Wait, what about the vampires? How will we know if there are any at the bar?"

Damon just smirked, and I knew he still had another surprise up his sleeve. He gave me money and told me to go inside to get us 'provisions'. I told him not to tell me what to do, but still, I went in and grabbed a variety of snacks, candy and drinks. He headed back towards the bar when I got in the car.

"What are we doing? Going back?" I questioned, since he hadn't said anything to me after opening a Snickers and shoving half of it in his mouth.

"Of course we're going back," Damon had said, "We have to wait for the bar to close." I glanced at the clock which read 12:58. It was already really late and we had school in the morning. Damon saw my expression and ordered, "Don't even try and quit on me now, Partner. We're in this together. Bar closes at 2."

I inwardly groaned, but Damon was right; we were in it together. I wanted to see the reaction of the bar patrons as they exited the bar to their cars only to see them covered in garlic. Damon parked in the empty lot of the closed package store next to the bar. He opened a bag of chips and shared some with me as we staked-out the 'scene of the crime', as Damon referred to it. We talked about our recent lab experiment and the upcoming test, and avoided topics like other friends or Damon himself. I didn't really know _anything_ about him, at this point. Only what he wanted me to know, which was very little. _Now I know why._

"It'd be awesome to be a vampire," Damon told me. It was a rare fact about himself that I wasn't expecting him to share with me. I mean, sure, it was nothing, really. It was as significant to me then as him admitting he'd like to be Casper the Friendly Ghost. I thought he was joking. "You'd never get any older...never get sick or hurt...never die."

Since this was obviously something he genuinely was interested in, I thought it over before I concluded, "I don't think I could be a vampire. Blood makes me squeamish. Plus, vampires might stay the same age forever, but they can never have a family. Don't you want kids?" Damon shrugged. "I do. Someday."

"Think of everything you could do if you had forever," Damon suggested as he completely ignored my opinion.

"Forever would be awful lonely after all your family and friends die, and no one is left but you..."

"What makes you so sure I'd be alone?" Damon demanded with slight frown.

"Well who'd wanna be stuck with you forever?" I teased, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Thanks," Damon smirked as he flipped me off. "Right back at ya."

When 2AM finally rolled around, Damon nudged my arm because, let's face it, I had been falling asleep. The remaining ten or so bar-goers left at the same time, all having slightly varied but normal reactions to our prank. Most of the guys laughed, a few seemed slightly irritated, and just one guy yelled about it. I thought their reactions were funny, and Damon laughed too but I could tell it was forced. He seemed disappointed.

"I guess there weren't any vampires in tonight," I joked, hoping to ease his tension. I didn't know what got him upset, but his carefree attitude was gone.

"Nope," Damon said with a straight-face. He started up the Camaro and began to drive in the direction of my house. "So, you think _Steffy_ will be happy to know you were out all night with _me_ again?"

I turned my head sharply to look at Damon, shocked that he'd say something like that. He'd never made a comment like that before. He knew Stefan was my boyfriend and that he and I were just friends, _barely_ friends. He could have argued that _barely_ friends don't tend to hang out a few nights a week, especially not in the middle of the night. I would have said it was the only free time I had, and he was the one who insisted on the midnight visits in the first place. I decided not to say any of those things. "Damon, we're lab partners. You know that. _Just lab partners_. And Stefan wouldn't be mad because he trusts me."

"So he knows where you are right now then?" Damon had demanded, knowing the answer was 'no'. I had barely shaken my head in reply when he said, "Didn't think so." After a pause, he completely changed the subject, "Whatever. Just think of this as a memory you'll have when you're older, and your kids ask you to tell them a story about you when you were in high school. You can tell them you had a _crazy_ lab partner who convinced you vampires were at the Mystic Bar and you had to put garlic all over their cars to capture them. I bet you garlic doesn't even harm vampires...Should've brought holy water or something."

I didn't know what to say, he was not making any sense, so I just stayed quiet as he drove up my street. He stopped the Camaro next to the curb and looked over at me with a cold stare. I really had no clue why he was so upset. We were having a good time until he brought up Stefan. What happened? "Well...that was fun, Damon. See you tomorrow." He didn't say anything after, so I sighed before getting out and slamming the door. Why did he have to go and ruin a good night?

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_Review:) Next part will be up tonight or tomorrow. Let me know what you think._


	3. Three

_Hey guys! Thanks for reading:) This is part 3, and Stefan is finally in this one, so I just wanted remind anyone who didn't see it before: Stefan is 'Stefan Moretti' - the Italian foreign exchange student in this story. He's not Damon's brother. Just so no one is confused:)  
_

_DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**3.**

"So what's with you and Damon Salvatore?" Caroline, my very best friend since elementary school, asked me at lunch one day when we were sitting outside the school on the front lawn. Usually her boyfriend, Tyler, and mine, Stefan, ate lunch with us, but that day they had a meeting with the football team.

"What do you mean?" I asked nonchalantly as I dipped a carrot stick in some ranch dressing before taking a bite. I looked over at my blonde haired, blue eyed bestie and offered her a baby carrot. She took one before answering.

"Well...Bonnie told me she saw you with him the other night and there are some weird rumors going around about you and him..." She shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

"Like what, Caroline?" I asked with a frown on my face.

"Like that you're hooking up! You're hanging out with a weirdo, Elena," Caroline told me bluntly, "He's like a stalker. He has _no_ friends; except for you. Don't you think that's strange? He's like in love with you." I loved Caroline, but she was so overdramatic about every little thing. I should never have told her about Damon knowing where I lived without my telling him. From that point on, she'd insisted on calling him a stalker.

"He is not in love with me. You've got it all wrong. We're just lab partners!" Why did I have to defend our relationship so much lately? It seemed everyone wanted to tell me what I was doing was wrong. I was sick of being told what to do. "And so what if we're friends anyways? He's not a weirdo. He's cool."

"Right..." Caroline didn't sound like she believed me. "Well then what about _Stefan?_ How do you think it's making him feel to hear about you and Damon?"

Stefan Moretti, Caroline's Italian foreign exchange student, had been living with Caroline since the beginning of September, so almost nine months now. She had grown very close and protective of Stefan, and I knew she'd be unhappy if Stefan and I broke up after she worked so hard playing match-maker to get us together. I liked Stefan though; maybe even loved him at one point. I never planned to mess up anything with the suave, sophisticated, and handsome Italian gentleman. Sometimes, life doesn't end up the way you planned.

"Stefan is my boyfriend," I pointed out, "And he knows that there is nothing between Damon and I. If Stefan were even a little bit jealous or concerned, he'd say something. He hasn't."

"Just be careful, Elena," Caroline warned. I didn't know what she was warning me about at the time, but I ignored it either way. I wasn't taking anyone's advice anymore. I was only listening to me.

Later that same afternoon, Damon asked me to hang out. I had plans with Stefan that night; we were going to see a movie at nine o'clock. Damon convinced me we had time to go bowling or something beforehand. He promised to have me back home before nine, and said he'd even drop me off at the theater if we ran late. I reluctantly agreed, as I always seemed to do when Damon requested something of me. I lied to Stefan too, about where I was going, which I shouldn't have done. I told him I had a meeting with Yearbook Committee. I knew I was going to Hell for that.

"Change of plans," Damon announced after picking me up in the Camaro at five o'clock, "We're not going bowling."

"What are we doing?" I'd asked after climbing into my usual seat beside him. I wasn't great at bowling, so I didn't really mind the change. Unless, of course, it turned into something worse than bowling, then I would've been disappointed. "And don't say the movies, because that's where Stefan and I are going later."

"No way would I ever want to do something as conventional as go to the movies," Damon stated distastefully. "Besides, you can save that crap for your boyfriend. You, Partner, are not my girlfriend. So we're going to do something that's actually fun."

"You say that like you're implying that Stefan and I _don't_ ever do anything fun," I pointed out.

"You don't." Damon ignored my complaint at his rudeness and pulled off the road to make a stop at the local Wal-Mart. To further prove his point that he wasn't my boyfriend, he asked, "Got any cash?" I handed him twenty bucks and waited impatiently in the car as he ran inside for whatever stupid thing he absolutely **needed** for our outing, or whatever the Hell he'd call it. He came back, hiding his purchase, which annoyed me since I gave him the money for it, and continued towards the unknown destination. The only thing he asked me was, "Pizza or Chinese?"

"Pizza." Our next stop was the Mystic Grill, where we ordered a pizza to-go, along with breadsticks and a two-liter of soda. At least I knew our outing included dinner, which he paid for. We waited twenty minutes for the food to cook, and then we were back in the car. "So..." I asked, breaking the awkward silence between us, "Where are we going?"

"Well..." Damon shared slowly, drawing out the suspense of his surprise, "I thought we'd have a picnic. And we're going to play a little game to decide where we'll eat." I was puzzled, which I often am when Damon gets an idea, so he explained further. "All right, so the game is like twenty questions. Only instead of asking a question, you'll give me a direction, and wherever we end up at twenty is where we'll eat."

"I get to pick?" I was really excited now. "Okay, let's go!" I smiled eagerly and Damon rolled his eyes and waited for my first direction. "At the next light take a left." I directed him until we were close to the Mystic Falls, the waterfall our town was named after, and that's where we ended up having our picnic.

After we ate the pizza and breadsticks, Damon pulled out a box of cookies he bought at Wal-Mart and thanked me for dessert. He also bought the blanket we were sitting on, and a giant case of bubbles for us to blow with the money I gave him. I laughed easily with him as we talked about the stupid parties that take place here at The Falls on the weekend. Since it was Friday, kids were probably getting ready to go out to The Falls that very night. I used to think those kind of parties were fun, but I thought they were stupid that night. With Damon, I saw the world through different eyes. He made all those high school things unimportant. When the sun went down and it got cold, he loaned me his jacket.

"I can't believe you took us here," Damon commented after draping the jacket over my shoulders. He sat back down next to me and stared at me curiously. He shook his head as he asked, "How did you know?"

"Know what?" I laughed. "What are you talking about, Partner? We were playing your game, remember? I just followed the rules..."

"I've been coming here since my family moved," Damon told me. "When I needed a place to just get away, I came here."

"Ohh," I teased him with a cheeky grin on my face, "I found your special spot?" It felt good to figure something out about him completely by accident. I scanned the serene calm of the Falls at this hour. He picked a good spot to come to as an escape. When teenagers aren't partying and trashing up the place, it's actually kind of nice and peaceful.

"I don't know how you did it," Damon insisted, "It was like a one in a billion chance of you finding it and you found it."

"Stranger things have happened," I'd told him as I looked him in the eyes, "Haven't they?"

Something in the air changed around us then. The way Damon looked at me...he'd never looked at me like that before, not even a little bit. It was like he saw me for the first time that night. _Saw the real me._ He leaned in and kissed me, so quick I almost didn't believe it happened. Then, he cleared his throat and said we should go; that we were lab partners and our relationship started and ended with that. He also said Alaric would be mad and disappointed, which I thought was weird. He was our Chemistry teacher; why would he be mad at us for kissing? If anyone was going to be mad, it was Stefan. What had I done? I'd let Damon kiss me. And I kind of liked it. _I did like it._

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_Please Review:)_


	4. Four

_Hey Guys! Thanks for reading:) So, I've never done a story with such short chapters, which makes me want to know: what do you guys prefer when reading a chaptered-fic? Do you like short chapters or long chapters? Is there an amount (too short or too long) that will make you not read a story? Just wondering:) Leave a review/message with your opinion._

_Anyways, I guess this is going to be a short-short-story then. Thi_s _is half-way through the story at this point. I hope you guys like it. Things are going to start getting more intense now:) _

___DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**4.**

After the picnic we had at The Falls, Damon didn't return to school the next Monday. He didn't return Tuesday, or Wednesday, or the rest of the week either. In fact, he was out of school for two whole weeks, and I was going crazy wondering what happened to him. It wasn't just because he was my lab partner and he was missing out on work, or because I found those anti-depressants in the pocket of the jacket he loaned me before he kissed me that night. It wasn't even just because of that kiss, or how it made me feel when he kissed me, or how I'd lied to Stefan just to be with him that night. It was all of those reasons, and more. I was really worried about him.

When Damon finally returned to school and took his seat beside me at our lab table, acting like nothing happened, I was pissed. I demanded answers. "Where have you been the past two weeks, Damon?"

"What?" Damon asked sardonically, "You come here every day?"

"Seriously," I pestered, not at all in the mood for his sarcasm, "Where were you?"

"Let's not talk about this here," Damon requested, "All right?" He opened his notebook and motioned towards Mr. Saltzman so he could ask what he missed while he was absent. I was annoyed that he didn't seem to care he worried me, but I didn't bug him any further.

After class, I followed him out of the classroom and down the hallway. "What is wrong with you? Why would you disappear like that? What are you, like a drug addict? Depressed or something? Nuts?! Tell me!"

"Since when do you think you know so much about me?" Damon asked bitterly, clearly avoiding my assault of questions.

"Since I had to go snooping around!" I admitted. I'd called his phone an embarrassing amount of times the past couple of weeks looking for him. I'd asked our Chemistry teacher, Mr. Saltzman, what was going on with him and gotten very few, vague answers. One of which was him informing me that Damon wasn't just _assigned _to be my lab partner, but he _chose me_. I didn't know what that meant. I'd stopped by a house that I thought was his so I could see him and give him some of his work, only to learn he gave me a false address. "I was worried about you! You left these in your jacket," I handed him the pills I'd been carrying around in my purse for the past two weeks. "And thanks for lying to me about where you live. What else did you lie about? Do you even have any brothers or sisters? Is your dad really a lawyer? Did you even tell me the truth about _anything_?"

"What does it matter?" Damon shrugged, continuing to walk away from me even though I know we already passed the room his next class was in.

"It matters to me!" I yelled, not caring at the moment that I was getting strange stares from my fellow classmates.

"Well, stop caring so much," Damon suggested before slamming open an emergency exit door, setting off the alarm, and stalking to his car.

Later on, I got into an argument with Stefan over my very public dispute with Damon earlier. I guess the rumors started pretty fast when people heard Elena Gilbert shouted at the weird kid, Damon Salvatore. Stefan finally admitted that he had grievances over my friendship with Damon, only he did it in the worst possible way. He shouted at me and called me a stupid, naive girl. He made me feel like a cheater and a lair, and I realized that he wasn't too far off. I had lied to him. I had been kissed by Damon. I promised myself I would never be that person. I would never intentionally hurt Stefan or any boyfriend by being unfaithful. I apologized, but I don't think it really made a difference. The damage was done. Stefan didn't break up with me, but he should have. I deserved that. Instead, he wanted to give me another chance, but I couldn't let him do that. I knew it wouldn't work. I ended it.

Damon avoided me after our confrontation. I tried to corner him a few times, but he always found a way to escape the conversation. Even in lab he ignored me. No cunning remarks or annoying questions. Nothing. I never thought I'd prefer Sarcastic Damon over Silent Damon.

Finally, I had to take drastic measures: I snuck into the office at school and looked up Damon's correct address and phone number. I drove to the house after school and knocked on the door. When I was ready to give up, a man surprised me by answering. He was older, with graying hair and many, many wrinkles on a face that appeared it should look younger. I came to the conclusion this man must have lived a stressful life.

"Hi," I waved hesitantly, unsure of myself since I'd already gone to one house before that was the wrong address, "Is Damon home? I'm his lab partner, Elena. Elena Gilbert."

"Hi, yes," The man replied, seeming shocked to have a visitor. "Come in. I'll see what Damon is doing."

"Could I...ask you a question?" I queried softly, hoping not to offend. The man nodded in response. "Does Damon have any siblings? Is his mom...in his life?"

Solemnly, the man replied, "No, it's just the two of us." He disappeared down the hallway for a moment before returning, face down-cast. "I'm sorry," He shook his head, "Damon doesn't want to see you."

I nodded, figuring as much but still feeling disappointed. "Okay. Thank you."

I didn't know what I'd done to make Damon so angry with me, but he was clearly not changing his mind any time soon. I was tired of waiting around for him to forgive me for whatever it was I did. I decided to wait him out. His car doors were unlocked, as he always kept them, so I climbed in the back and laid down on the seat. If I knew anything about Damon, and I did despite his denying it, he'd be going somewhere tonight. Maybe he'd go out looking for vampires. He did tell me he liked to do that sometimes when he had nothing better to do. Maybe he'd even go to The Falls. It was his special spot.

I was right. Damon did get in his car and drive to The Falls not too soon after I 'left' his house. He parked right next to the waterfall and got out of the car. I waited a minute before I snuck out, as quietly as possible, hoping not to alert him of my presence until I was ready. I stepped up behind him, watched his back tense as he became aware I was there, and put a hand gently on his shoulder.

"What's going on with you?" I mentally willed him to be quiet as I spoke, needing to get out everything I had to say. "I know secrets are sort of your _thing_, but can't you just let me in a little bit? You forced your way into my life almost five months ago and now you just want to pretend like you don't even know me. I'm sorry for asking about your medication; I don't care what it's for. I don't care if you're crazy, really, I don't. I just...want to be with you. Everything is different when I'm with you, and I don't...I don't want to lose that."

In an instant, Damon had spun around and gripped my shoulders tightly, holding me at arm's length. He stared into my eyes like he could read my mind and he was making sure what I said was the truth. It seems he believed me, because he was soon kissing me furiously. And I was kissing back. I let him guide me to his car and throw me in the backseat without ever taking his lips off mine. I liked the way his lips tasted and I wanted more. I knew what was going to come next. Damon peeled my clothes off my body slowly, drinking in every feature with his gorgeous blue eyes. I had never felt more beautiful. I wasn't even a little nervous when he took his clothes off next, and even though it was my first time, I was eager to get started. I loved his fingers on my skin. I loved how close I felt to him, and how every touch was perfect. I loved everything about him. _I loved Damon Salvatore._ And we made love that night.

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_Please Review!:) Your feedback is appreciated:) What do you think is up with Damon? Any guesses?_


	5. Five

_Thanks for reading and reviewing this story so far! I appreciate the feedback:) This one is short, but I'll post more later tonight. The whole story will be posted by tomorrow or Saturday._

___DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**5.**

When I finally learned that Damon was sick, _truly_ sick, we had so little time left. It was an accident that I found out too; otherwise I don't think Damon would ever have told me. We ran into a woman at the grocery store who broke down crying when she saw Damon and told him the unfortunate news that her twelve year old son had passed away. That was a bad day.

"Who was that?" I'd whispered after Damon finally pried the grieving woman from his shoulder.

"No one," Damon said, turning away from me to survey the cereal selection. We came in to get ingredients for cookies, not cereal, so I knew he was only avoiding my question. "Just, uh, just a lady I used to know."

"It looks like she knows you pretty well," I commented, trying to speak gently and not pushy. "Did you know her little boy? Was he sick?"

"I don't know!" Damon blurted loudly before abandoning our grocery cart, and me, and walking out of the grocery store.

I followed him, deciding cookies weren't going to happen this afternoon. I reminded Damon he promised me there would be no more lies after our last conversation at The Falls. I told him I could tell he was upset about that little boy's death, and I wanted him to talk to me about it. It was better to talk, I told him, than to hold it inside and feel like shit.

He finally spilled the beans. "I met them at the hospital; Andie, and her son Jimmy. He had bone cancer. It went in remission for a while, but it came back stronger than before. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. I wondered why he didn't call..." He shook his head, looking close to tears. "I should have called him. I should've-"

"It's not your fault," I cut him off with a hug. "I'm so sorry. Poor little guy." After a moment, I realized something. "What did you meet them at the hospital for? Did you volunteer there?" I didn't really see Damon as the volunteering type, but he surprised me every day, so I could have been wrong.

"No," Damon laughed bitterly, "I didn't volunteer there." He sighed and then took a ragged breath before he told me, "I was there for treatment. I guess you're going to find out anyways. Might as well be now."

"You're sick?" I'd questioned, feeling hollow inside. He had to be joking. I couldn't believe him. How could he be sick when he acted so _alive_?

Damon nodded. "Leukemia." He shrugged indifferently. I waited for him to laugh, say he was only kidding around. He'd done it before. He had told me that he was really a girl, that his weird Uncle Fred had touched him as child, that he was actually a one-hundred and fifty year old vampire who wanted to drink my blood...lots of things, but none of them were serious. This was different. He didn't laugh. He didn't take it back. He meant it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I'd asked while I tried to hide the fact that my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I clasped them together and shoved them in my lap while I sucked in my bottom lip and stared at the blue-eyed boy sitting next to me inside of his Camaro.

"Everybody bites it sooner or later," Damon said coolly, "I'm just in the AP class, ahead of the game." He acted like it was no big deal and he didn't care at all.

I sniffled and fought the sadness from creeping in my voice when I complained, "It's always a joke with you."

"Doc says it's a phase," Damon told me. "It'll stop soon, but hey, at least none of this was about sympathy for the sick kid."

"That's not fair," I said through blurry eyes. I held in my tears as long as I could, but when he started yelling about what really wasn't fair in life, I couldn't hold them in anymore.

"What is fair, Elena? Is it fair that I'm taking classes to prepare me for a college I'll never make it to? Is it fair that I've always wanted to go to Europe and I'll never make it there? That I'll never make it past eighteen, never be able to have a legal drink, or get married, or have kids. I don't even get to decide if those are things I want. Life isn't fair! But so what?!" By the time he finished, he was screaming in my face. He tried to pretend he didn't care, but I knew he did. He was angry. He was scared. He hated the world, and he hated me.

"You should have told me," I'd said firmly. "Everything makes sense now: why you always avoided talking about college or anything after high school; why you don't believe in marriage or love; why you are so obsessed with vampires..."

Damon shook his head, denying my words. He denied that his obsession was based on truth. He denied that he believed, but I knew he did. "Shut up Elena, you don't know what you're talking about. I told you not to care. I told you to leave me alone. I tried to get you to lose interest, but you just wouldn't let me go."

"I'm still not going to let you go!" I exclaimed, "I don't care how long we have. I want to be with you. I'm going to be with you until the end. Get that through your thick skull, all right, Partner?" I rubbed the remaining tears from my eyes and pushed my way into Damon's arms. He accepted my words and hugged me tightly as he placed a kiss on my temple.

The last few weeks of school, Damon was sick a lot. He missed most of the classes, but he made up his work and he managed to pass all of his tests so he could graduate with our class. He didn't walk the stage on Graduation night, but I think he was happy enough knowing he made it through the year. All his hard work wasn't for nothing once he got that diploma in his hands. Still, it broke my heart to see him in the hospital while I was in my Graduation gown. It broke my heart to watch him waste away before my very eyes the following weeks. The life and color drained from him; his bright blue eyes dulled and his skin was pale as a ghost. He could barely eat and he was always sleeping. I didn't want to ever leave his side, worried he'd be gone when I returned. When the hospital could do no more for him, they sent him home, so he could die in the comfort of his own bed. I hated them for giving up on him because I felt like they made him give up, too. I hadn't given up. I still believed in him. Damon was strong. Damon was full of life. Damon could be a survivor. He had to, I realized, not only for him, but for me. Because I needed him.

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_Please Review! Your feedback makes me smile:)  
_


	6. Six

_Thanks for reading and for the feedback:) This chapter is a sad one, but bear with me, there are still two more parts and I promise not to leave you guys crying at the end. _

___DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith (even though this is not going to be anything like Keith in the last few chapters) nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**6.**

On the last night of Damon's life, we got in our biggest fight yet. He planned it out, _I know he did_, to push me away. I wanted to give him one last special memory. I wanted to be with him and to make him happy and to just tell him I loved him one last time. He didn't want that. He wanted to be an asshole and push me away. He wanted to make me hate him so he wouldn't feel so bad about dying and leaving me all alone...

"Do you want to go for a ride? I can drive the Camaro," I smiled, twirling his keys around my fingers, "I've been practicing stick-shift and I'm better now. I know I sucked before, but I promise, I'm much better." His dad taught me a little while Damon was in the hospital, continuing what his son started, and I eventually figured it out on my own. It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be driving stick.

"I don't think so, Partner," Damon teased weakly, "I still don't like the idea of you driving my baby. I guess I should get over that. You be careful with her, okay?"

"I always am," I replied, instead of addressing his nearing departure from this Earth. I couldn't talk about it, it made me too choked up. I can't picture my life without him in it. He had accepted his fate at this point and was ready to go if I would let him, but I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to let him go, and I'll never be ready. "But we can stay right here if you want to." I smiled before sliding into his bed beside him and curling up close to him, gently stroking his face with one of my hands while I stared into his eyes. They're still the most gorgeous pair of eyes I've ever seen, even though they aren't as bright as they were the first day I met him. I brushed my lips against his for a moment before feeling him pull away with a shuddery sigh.

"Actually, I think it's time for you to go." Damon said, completely out of the blue. It was the last thing I expected him to say. He couldn't kick me out now, not when he was so close...

I leaned back to look him in the eyes as I asked, "What do you mean?"

"You need to go," He repeated, "I don't want you here...for this." He tried to put more distance between us by pulling his hand out of mine and staring at me blankly. He was so good at that, acting like he didn't care. It was such an obvious facade. He should have known I wouldn't fall for that so easily.

"I'm not going to leave you, Damon." I made no moves to indicate I'd be leaving his side any time soon.

"I don't want you here," He said, stronger this time. He spoke so rigid and recited, like he'd written it down or practiced it in his head over and over. He must have been waiting for the right moment, the last moment, to tell me goodbye in the worst possible way. So he wouldn't have to actually say goodbye. "I never wanted you here. You were supposed to be my lab partner only, not this. This wasn't part of the plan."

"I didn't think you had a plan," I pointed out, trying to forget about the hurtful things he said before that. I knew deep down that he was only saying what he knew what hurt me most, but I still felt the pang in my chest when he say he didn't want me.

"Of course I had a plan," Damon scoffed, "Everybody has a plan. Mine was to ruin your life." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. "Think about it, Elena. Your life was _perfect_ before you met me. You had everything! Mine was shit. You had perfect grades, a scholarship to college next year, an _awesome_ boyfriend, and _popularity_. Me? I had six months to live and nothing to live for. So I made you my toy. I played with you for my amusement." He was fully in character now, resolved on making me hate him. His eyes actually flashed with emotion for the first time in over a week. Anger. Frustration. Sadness.

"Stop it..." I begged him, but he didn't listen.

"I didn't think you'd go for it as hard as you did. I thought you'd at least resist me a little more, but I had you hooked the first time I asked you to meet me. You actually came out in the middle of the night to go to an unknown destination with a guy you didn't even know. What kind of a girl are you? I still can't believe you showed up." Damon chuckled as I tried not to cry. He was feverish and sweaty; he shouldn't have been exerting so much energy being angry at me. He should have just shut up and rested, but he didn't. "You showed up every single time. You did everything I wanted. You even slept with me." He smirked as I finally got off the bed, needing to put a little bit of distance between us so he'd chill out. I'd hoped he'd chill out.

"Fuck you," I muttered. It was a half-hearted 'fuck you', but I felt it needed to be said.

He smirked yet again, "Like I said, already did that, Partner. More than once, too. What do you think about that? You still want to stay?" Before I could answer, tell him yes, I didn't care, he was speaking again, "I don't want you here. I don't care what you want to do. I'm the one who's dying. I want to do it alone."

"I don't think you mean what you're saying," I told him, "I don't want to leave you." I couldn't believe he was doing this to us. I couldn't believe he was taking away our only chance to say goodbye and trying to shut me out. It wasn't fair. He was leaving _me_. He should have let me say goodbye and wait with him until he was gone. It was selfish, but I couldn't help how I felt.

"Get the fuck out of here, Elena. You are the worst thing that's _**ever **_happened to me. _**Go!**_"

He leaned his head back on his pillow after using his last bit of strength to shout at me, but his eyes never left mine. He still looked sad but he was completely serious. He was begging me to listen to him, to do what he asked. I understood that what he was saying might not be right for me, but it was what he wanted. He couldn't leave and go somewhere else himself in his condition, so I had to leave him. I blinked back tears that stung my eyes and slowly started towards the door, but I turned back to tell him, "I love you. I don't know if you're doing this to make yourself feel better about what is happening, or if, in some sick way, you think you're making it easier on me...I don't know. But I love you, Damon. And I know you love me, whether or not you say it. I know you do. So if you want this to be our goodbye...then just tell me one more time to go, and I will."

Damon took a long, deep breath, and I was hopeful that he'd changed his mind, but then he said, "Please. Go."

I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as I whispered, "Goodbye," to the boy I love for the last time. I knew he wouldn't make it through the night. He would be gone by morning and I wouldn't be there with him when he went. I shut the door to his bedroom when I left, politely told Mr. Salvatore goodbye, and made it to my car before breaking down. I cried harder than I'd ever cried in my life. The pathetic whimpers coming out of my throat turned into uncontrollable sobs, and I was glad no one was there to hear it. I ran my fingers through my hair roughly, pulling hard and squeezing my eyes shut against the pain. I tried to take calming breaths to stop the tears. It didn't work. Every time I nearly calmed down, I remembered Damon was dying in that house and he didn't want me there. I could barely compose myself long enough to start up the engine of my car and begin driving, and in hind-sight, I probably should have taken that as a hint that I wasn't fit behind the wheel...

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_Please Review. Next part will be posted tomorrow, and possibly the last part too. Your feedback is appreciated:)_


	7. Seven

_Thanks so much for reading and to those who have reviewed! There is one more part after this. I hope you enjoy! Let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear them:)_

___DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith (even though this is not going to be anything like Keith in the last few chapters) nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

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…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**7.**

Half-way between Damon's house and mine, I crashed my car. It was on Old Wickery Road, right before the Wickery Bridge. My vision was blurred with tears as I realized the bridge was always the half-way point from him to me, and I stupidly drove off the road and into a tree. Thankfully, I didn't hit my head too hard, and I was still conscious when Klaus Mikaelson, the vampire, pulled me out of the car. He acted the part of the British gentleman, asking if I was hurt and what the hysterics were all about. At first, I wasn't paying attention; I played right into his hand.

_Apparently, I really am naive and will listen to anything anyone says._

I didn't know Klaus was a vampire until right before he compelled me into believing his bite wouldn't hurt and I could trust him. He didn't compel me to forget who I was or where I came from though, and he made a mistake when he assumed that I would be an easy target. Klaus was exactly what Damon had been looking for since he moved to Mystic Falls, and I wasn't overlooking the irony of the whole situation; that on the night of his death a vampire appeared. And not just to anyone, but to _me_. It was fate. It was destiny. It was my last chance.

"You're a vampire," I'd whispered as soon as Klaus' fangs descended into the skin on my neck. I saw stars dance in front of my eyes as he sucked the blood from me. I could feel my fingers tingle before they grew numb, and then my toes, and the numbness slowly crept up my body. He was going to suck me dry. He was going to kill me. "…You can save him…"

My words captured the vampire's attention. He grasped the back of my neck and yanked my head back so he could look me in the eyes as he questioned, "Save who? Why?" I didn't know that the reason Klaus had interest was because he'd been alone an awfully long time, and I was the first human who wasn't afraid but intrigued by him. I didn't know it then, but I was right that immortality was a lonely thing without anybody to spend it with. Another piece of evidence that fate brought us together that night.

"Please…" I murmured weakly, "Can you make me…like you?"

Klaus chuckled. "Make _you _like _me?_ Well, love, you'd have to drink my blood before I killed you for that to happen. And why would I let you do that?" He told me exactly what had to be done to make someone a vampire. I wondered if he did that on purpose or if he was that confident he could kill me in a heartbeat if he wanted. He could. If he wanted to.

"You're going to kill me anyways," I pointed out.

Klaus cocked his head to the side as if considering my request. His eyes flashed with new resolve before the black veins returned to his face and he latched on to my neck again, pulling the blood from my neck faster. He wasn't going to turn me. He wasn't going to grant me immortality. That was just it though, that was what gave me the push I needed to do what I did next: It wasn't for me. This act was selfless, because the truth was I didn't want it for me; I wanted it for _him_. I twisted my neck for a better angle and my nose brushed against Klaus' neck briefly, his cologne stinging my nostrils._ It was now or never_. I took a quick breath in through my nose, and then opened my mouth wide and bit down on the skin on Klaus' neck. I didn't have fangs, so I clamped my jaw together as tight as I could until I felt his skin burst under the pressure and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I wanted to gag, it was disgusting, but I forced myself to swallow it. I sucked in a mouthful of Klaus' undead blood and drank from him as he drank from me.

Once Klaus realized what I'd done, he shoved me off him and threw me backwards against my car. I felt the window smash behind me from the force, shards of glass imbedding through my shirt and into my back. I cried out from the pain and slumped down on the ground. Klaus marched forward and pulled me up by the collar of my shirt as he shouted, "What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

"I told you-" I stuttered, trying to catch the breath that was knocked out of me, "I told you…"

"What? That you wanted to be like me?!" Klaus roared, his eyes ablaze with rage.

"No," I shook my head, "I don't. But _he_ does. And I have to save him." Tears leaked out of my eyes as I pleaded for this undead monster to show some compassion for a human such as myself.

Klaus grabbed my chin tightly, forcing me to look him in the eyes as he compelled me to answer his question, "Who?"

"Damon," I replied monotonously, "He's sick. He's dying."

"Why do you care?" Klaus couldn't comprehend how a human would sacrifice their very soul to save another.

"I love him." I stated firmly.

Klaus nodded his head once before pressing his hands on either side of my face and twisting my neck with a snap. He killed me. Klaus told me later it was because of what I said. He found me interesting enough to keep around if I loved someone enough to get myself killed. And he also thought Damon must be an interesting person too if I loved him enough to die for him.

But I didn't stay dead. I came back.

When I woke up hours later, I felt strange. I was lying on the grass next to my car, and it took me a moment to remember what happened. I crashed my car after leaving Damon's…a vampire found me, tried to kill me, and then turned me…Where was Klaus? Just as I sat up, he appeared again, leading a woman who looked only a little older than I behind him. He took my hand and helped me to my feet. Then he gestured towards the girl and told me to feed. That is how I would complete the transformation. Then I'd be a vampire, like him. I didn't want to, but I had to, so I drank. It was hard to stop once I started, but when Klaus mentioned I'd kill the girl if I didn't stop, because I'd nearly drained her body completely, I listened. I didn't want to be a killer. I couldn't. When it was done, the transformation complete, I felt better than I'd ever felt _alive_.

I thought Klaus would compel the girl and send her on her way, but he finished her off instead. "Sun will be coming up soon," Klaus warned, "So I have a little present for you. See, our kind can't walk in the sunlight, or we burn. But I have a special daylight ring. I used to have others...like me...but they are no longer in need of their rings." He pulled the chain from his neck to reveal five similar - yet unique - rings. He chose one with a red stone for me, and I slipped it on my middle finger. Surprisingly, it fit. It was a woman's ring. I wondered where she was now. Klaus smiled and queried, "Now, where was it you needed to go, love?"

I gasped, finally remembering why I did this to myself in the first place. "The sun will be up soon?" I felt panic seize my body. The sun! It was morning! But Damon wasn't supposed to make it through the night…What if…? "No…no!"

Without wasting another second, I took off towards Damon's house, running at a speed much quicker than humanly possible. The road and the trees blurred around me but I still saw each and every detail as clear as day. My hair whipped behind me in the wind, and I could hear Klaus running after me, following me to my destination. When we arrived, I slowed, and Klaus stopped beside me. He didn't ask what we were doing. He just followed.

I tried to let myself in the front door, as I'd done every morning this week, but I couldn't step inside. Something was stopping me…an invisible force field. I looked to Klaus for help. "You have to be invited in," Klaus replied with a shrug.

I knocked, no _pounded_, on the front door until Giuseppe answered. Then I begged, "Can I please, please come in? I need to see him. I know he didn't want me here, but please-"

"Of course you can come in, Elena," Giuseppe replied, opening the door further so I could step in. Klaus remained outside. "But…he's not…" He shook his head back and forth, face reddening, and eyes filling with tears. I knew he meant Damon and not Klaus.

I didn't want to hear what he had to say next. No way. Damon was not dead. He couldn't be dead. I walked with my new vampire speed into Damon's bedroom and shut the door; it shuddered in the doorframe. I hoped Giuseppe wouldn't follow. I was crying before I got to the bed, before I touched his hand, because he looked completely lifeless. His chest wasn't rising and I couldn't hear the blood rushing through his veins like I heard when Giuseppe opened the front door. I didn't have the nearly unstoppable urge to tear into his body and suck his veins dry. A sob pushed its way out of my throat and I ran my hands gently over Damon's peaceful, unmoving face before collapsing on the bed and pressing my face into his chest. Tears poured from my eyes, drenching his soft cotton t-shirt, and then…then I heard something. It was so faint I thought I imagined it. I pushed my ear against Damon's chest and listened...

There it was again. His heart. It was still beating, but barely so. He wasn't dead yet.

I sat up with a gasp and cupped his face between my hands, shaking lightly. "Damon? Damon, please…" I knew what I had to do, just as I knew what I had to do before Klaus killed me. I felt my jaw tighten as my fangs descended and I bit into my wrist. I lifted the fresh wound to his chapped lips and whispered, "Drink." I opened his lips with my fingers, watching the blood drip from my wrist into his mouth. He wasn't swallowing though, and it wasn't going to work if he didn't swallow it. I leaned down and kissed both his eyes as tears from mine dripped onto his face while I told him, "Come on, Damon. I found what you've been looking for. Please, you have to drink. Don't make me spend forever alone. I don't want this life without you..."

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_Sorry that was kind of a cliff-hanger, but the __next, and **final**, chapter to this story will be up later tonight. Look for it around 8 or 9:) _

_& Please Review.  
_


	8. Eight

_Here is the final chapter! Thanks so much for reading/reviewing/following. I really appreciate the feedback:) I hope you enjoyed reading my first D/E short-story. Most of my stories are much, much longer than this, but I'm really happy with how this turned out, so I hope you guys are too:)_

_____DISCLAIM: I don't own the movie Keith (even though this is not going to be anything like Keith in the last few chapters) nor do I own the Vampires Diaries, so all characters, places, and ideas you see that are familiar belong to them and not to me. That is all:)_

* * *

…**My Love Immortal**…

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"_Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." – Emily Dickinson_

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**8.**

At 4:49 in the morning, Damon passed away. He just stopped breathing while I held him in my arms. I didn't know if what I'd done had worked, or if I'd made a mistake in drinking Klaus' blood and forcing him to turn me. If Damon wasn't going to live too, then I didn't want immortality. How could fate be so cruel as to give me exactly what I needed to save him only to be too late and have to watch him die?

I waited for an hour with Giuseppe as he said his final goodbye to his son's body. When he finally left the room to make a call, I went outside to find Klaus. He was still waiting around; somehow, I knew he would be. I told him I gave Damon some of my blood before he died, but I didn't know if it was enough. Klaus said it would work; as long as he swallowed the blood before his heart stopped beating, he'd come back. Klaus promised.

Four hours after passing, at just about 9 o'clock, Damon came back to us. His blue eyes shot open and he gasped for air as he sat straight up and blinked at Klaus and I in confusion. We'd compelled the ambulance to leave Damon's body with us instead of driving it to the morgue. The three of us were now sitting inside of Damon's Chevy Camaro; Klaus in the driver's seat and I in the passenger, while Damon was in the backseat. Klaus filled up the tank and started driving West. I asked him where we were going, and what we would tell our parents, but Klaus said that life was over. We had a new life; with Klaus. He extracted another daylight ring from the chain around his neck, and I put it on Damon's finger before he woke. I asked Damon about the rings, why he had so many and whose they were, but he told me it was a story for another time. Now that Damon is awake, Klaus should be taking a pit-stop so he can find Damon a 'snack' to finish his transformation...

After taking in the scene before him, Damon's eyes locked on to mine and he questioned, "What happened? What's going on? Where are we?"

"Damon!" I undid my seat belt and literally launched my body over the seat onto his lap. "I can't believe it. I can't believe you came back." I smiled happily even as tears dripped down my cheeks. I stroked his hair and his cheeks with my hands, running them down his neck and shoulders to his chest. I had to be sure he was real, that this was really happening.

"How?" Damon whispered, eying Klaus warily.

"Your girlfriend granted your last wish, mate," Klaus grinned cheekily in the rear view mirror at Damon as he said, "She turned you into a vampire."

"Well, not yet," I reminded, "We do have to get him something to eat…"

"That we do, love, that we do," Klaus agreed. "I'll pull off the next exit and find some_one_ for our friend to eat."

"You're a…" Damon pointed at Klaus, trailing off in disbelief.

"Vampire?" I filled in. "I thought you knew, Damon; Mystic Falls has a long history of vampires." I shot a trademark Damon-smirk at him as I ran my fingers through his soft dark hair, watching his ice blue eyes flash over to mine. "You were right. I didn't believe you, but it was true. Now you have forever…if you want it."

"But you didn't," Damon said, remembering what I told him the time he'd admitted he wanted to be a vampire. I didn't want immortality. I wanted to grow up and have a family and kids one day. I wanted life. But I chose death for him.

"I love you," I said, answering the question on the tip of his tongue. "I don't care if I can't have a family one day, as long as I have you. All I need is you."

Damon kissed me then, crushing me with his new-found vampire strength, but I didn't mind. He could smother me all he wanted. He was alive! Well, not technically, I guess, but neither was I. "I'm sorry for what I said," He murmured into my hair, "I didn't mean it. You're not the worst thing that ever happened to me; you're the best. I was pissed at myself because you are so amazing and I was such an idiot. I knew I wouldn't have more time with you." He kissed me again. "Now I have forever. I love you, Elena. Thank you for saving me."

He may think that I saved him, but I see it differently. He saved me. Before him, I was living for all the wrong reasons. I thought getting into a good college and being popular were the most important things in life. I was stupid. Once I met Damon, everything changed. I never felt more alive than when I was with him. It took a dying man to show me how to live, and I had to embrace death before I could really be alive. Nothing could come between us now.

After stopping for Damon to complete his transformation, Klaus headed straight on for California. I guess he has 'unfinished business' there. I don't know what that means, nor do I care. Klaus is a vampire of many secrets; if I tried to figure him out now it would take an awful long time. Right at this moment, my thoughts are only on Damon, and our future together. Everything that would have been snatched away from him by death are available again. A whole new world of opportunities have opened, for Damon and for me. We can go to college if we want, anywhere we want. We can go to Europe, like both of us have always wanted. We can do anything we like. We've got all the time in the world.

Damon must have been thinking the same thing as me, because he stroked my cheek to get my attention as he asked, "So what happens now?"

I cupped his face in my hands and replied, "Whatever we want, my love," before placing my lips on his.

_We have forever to be together. Our love is immortal._

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**THE END**

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_Please Review! I was thinking of maybe doing a follow-up short-story; a little Damon/Elena with Klaus in California and finding out about the five rings. I have a few other stories to finish first thought, but maybe in the New Year...if you guys are interested? Let me know in your review:)_

_Thanks again for reading. Check out my other stories. Also, visit my friend, _**DeeReadinQueen**_, she just posted her first story and it's really good, so go read it:)  
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